Hear me out
by jahubanik
Summary: Clarke is a singer and a songwriter aspiring to become someone like her dad. Octavia’s band is looking for a new vocalist because the previous one bailed on them, just before a seriously important concert that can’t be canceled. Octavia will change Clarke’s life and obviously help her meet Bellamy. AU, Clarke and Octavia can sing
1. Sing?

She sat there, on the couch thinking, her head in her hands. Scrunched up pieces of paper all over the living room.

"Aaaahhh!", she screamed. "What the hell? What's the matter, Clarke?" Said Raven, with her head peaking out of her room. "Nothing and everything. I don't know. Raven help, I've got a writers block!" Said Clarke defeatedly. Raven chuckled and sat herself next to Clarke on the pulled her into a soft hug.

"Wouldn't it be better to just go and sleep to chill your mind a bit? You have been sitting here for almost five hours." Said Raven. Clarke groaned, but got herself up and shuffled to the bathroom for a quick shower, but before she closed the door, Clarke leaned towards the living room and said, "Thanks Raven, what would I do without you."

Clarke took a quick shower and brushed her teeth. When she went to her room, she quickly put on some tank top and old shorts and collapsed onto her bed. She fell asleep instantly, her brain didn't have any more mental capacity to think.

The next morning Clarke woke up to the smell of cooking. She got out of bed and went to the kitchen to see what was Raven up to. When she entered the kitchen Raven greeted her with a simple "Good morning" and put her a plate with a cup of coffee on the table. Clarke sat herself behind the table and Raven shortly joined her.

"What did I do to deserve such a breakfast service?" Clarke laughed and took a bite of her French toast. "I don't know I just woke up with a good mood and serious craving for French toast. Oh by the way you slept quite long so I even had the time to go to the shop and bought you todays newspaper."

Raven was acting weird, but Clarke just let it slide, she had delicious breakfast and her daily dose of newspapers. Clarke didn't really like the politics or economics in the newspapers. She looked for job opportunities and sometimes there were few articles about nature and also, every other day, there was an article accompanied by beautiful pictures. Sometimes she even cut them out and made collages on her wall out of them.

Clarke was an artist in her soul. She liked art in every form, but most of the time she sang. Singing gave her everything she had ever wanted. Because she also wrote her songs it helped her to vent her emotions and calm or express herself.

When she was little she sang with her dad. He was popular in their town. Jake Griffin taught Clarke how to play guitar and tried to teach her how to play piano, but she didn't really like that, so she just sticked with the guitar. He sometimes brought her with her to his small concerts and once, Clarke could sing with him on the stage.

Clarke admired her dad in every way possible. But three years ago, he died in a car accident when he was driving along with his band to one of their concerts. A drunk driver went over to the other side of the road and the cars crashed in head-on collision. It was hard for Clarke and her mom. Their family was so cheerful and happy, but it all changed in that exact moment.

Her mom is a surgeon, so she engulfed herself in her work and started spending unhealthy hours working in the hospital. Clarke on the other hand, struggled with the death of her father and for a long time, she didn't know what to do, so she just went on with her life but without music and emotions. She felt like a ghost. After about a year after the crash she started hanging out with Wells and he brought her back to music. Clarke realised, that making music again can help her. A year later she moved out and went to collage. She couldn't afford apartment alone, so she found a girl, that was only a year older than herself and that girl happened to be Raven. Now they are pretty much best friends and do everything together.

Clarke picked up the newspapers, that Raven got her this morning and turned over few pages, so she could look at the last two pages. Clarke looked over the advertisements and nearly choked when she saw the last one.

"Holy shit! Raven, look!" She shoved it in front of Raven and it took her a few seconds to find what was so interesting about the ad. When her she finally adjusted, her eyes widened. "Oh my God, are you going to call her?" Raven was now turned to Clarke and they looked at each other with enormous grins on their faces.

"Yeah, probably...who am I kidding, of course I am!" Clarke quickly ran for her phone and threw the newspaper back on the table. When she returned she dialled the number that was bellow the text, that read:

_Hello, we are Red Sky at Morning, local band. We are in need of a vocalist who can also play an acoustic guitar. We will be performing on 20th January, 2020 in the Dropship bar. Our band's vocalist suddenly resigned and the concert can't be cancelled. Don't worry, we have a place to practice, so the soon you call the better:)_ _If you're interested call +421 918 24* ***_

Clarke held the phone to her ear when she heard someone picked up. "So, hey! Still looking for the vocalist for your band?" She couldn't hide the smile that was slowly creeping to her face.

...

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**Hey! So, I am totally new here. ** **If you liked the story please consider review, I'd like to know what to improve or maybe what should happen. It is really fun writing this and I am really hyped up about it, hope you like what's coming next:)** **Bye, now!**


	2. Snapped

_"...so, still looking for the vocalist for your band?"_

"Oh, hey! Yeah, yeah we are still looking for one, can you sing and play the guitar?" Clarke heard from her phone. It was a nice and soothing female voice, but she sounded really exited.

"Ok, then. How are going to do this? Do you have a studio, or should we meet at some sort of a café first?" Clarke asked. She didn't really know what to do. This was the first time she called this kind of ad in newspapers.

"Yeah, right! Here I just sent you my personal number. Let's meet up at the Ground Beans café?" The girl said and it sounded more like a question than a statement, so Clarke assumed she ought the girl an answer. "Alright, I work there anyway, my shift ends today at five. Quarter past five then?"

"Cool, see you at quarter past five today! I am really looking forward to it..ehm...sorry, what is your name mysterious girl?" Clarke facepalmed herself, she almost forgot such a trivial thing!

"It's Clarke, Clarke Griffin." Clarke heard giggles from the phone. "Hello Clarke, I am Octavia, see you in few hours!"

Octavia hung up and Clarke let out a breath she didn't realise, she was holding. In matter of seconds Raven looked at her questioningly with her eyes wide. "Soooo?" Raven dragged out the word.

"Sooo I am going to meet them, well her...at least I think it's only one girl." Clarke let out in a really fast wave of words. "Her name is Octavia and she sounds like a really nice person. I am really looking forward to it."

Raven raised her hand and Clarke hit her with a high-five. "Nice!" but Clarke suddenly froze, "Do you know what this means? No more singing at kids birthday parties!" She shouted and stood up from the chair she was sitting on.

"Woah, slow down a bit." Raven put her hands on Clarke's shoulders and slowly put her down back to her chair. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but you are just going to meet this Ophelia-" "Octavia" Clarke corrected her. "Right," said Raven rolling her eyes. ",either way it's really uncommon name.

"Yeah, but those birthday parties really suck a lot" sighed Clarke. "Anyways, what time is it? I need to go buy new strings for my guitar. I think I maybe, overdid it yesterday."

Raven looked at her phone and said "It's nearly ten o'clock." Clarke nearly spat out the last bit of the French toast that Raven made her and with full mouth said, "Shit!" Before getting up and hurrying herself over to their bathroom.

It took her only few minutes to get ready. She put hardly any effort into looking good, but she knew, it didn't matter because either way people told her she looked nice. She wore simple black t-shirt, hoodie, black skinny jeans and oversized black denim jacket. Clarke took her car keys and ran downstairs to the small parking lot they had in front of the apartment complex.

She started the car and put on music. She just couldn't live without it. Her shift starts at half past eleven, so she had just the right amount of time to go to the music store across the town to grab those guitar strings and get to work on time.

When she opened the door to the store a familiar feeling washed over her. She was greeted with the sight of over twenty guitars hanging on the walls, beautiful pianos arranged in five rows.

Suddenly a voice came out of the backroom "Just a minute, I'll be right there!" Clarke smiled at the familiar voice. When the person came out of the other room he squinted his eyes and a smile cut his face in half."Hey" she said "Clarke, you don't even know how happy I am to see you again." He climbed over the desk he was behind and hugged her"

Clarke started laughing and returned the hug. "Wells! I don't think you are supposed to do that!" He frowned at her."Oh come on. Like anyone is going to see me doing that. So what can I do for my favourite customer?"

"Oh my God, Wells." She cringed at what he said but smiled afterwards. "My guitar strings snapped yesterday."

"Again?! Clarke I swear you are torturing the guitar. What were you doing, that more than one string snapped?" Wells slowly walked back behind the cashier desk, but normally this time.

"I tried to come up with a new song. It didn't go well, though. I sat on the couch for five hours, drank seven coffees and I came up with just one thing. And it's not even finished."She sighed and put her elbows on the table so she could rest her head on her hands.

"Don't worry, _you_ wrote it so the text must be good and _you_ are going to sing it so it will surely be awesome." He smiled and softly nudged her shoulder. "Yeah, I don't know but I'll work on it some more and maybe something will come out of it." She rose her head from her hands and suddenly her face looked more serious. "Anyway, I am not really happy about this, but I need to get to work, so could you please give me D, G and I'll also take a spare A. Just to be sure." She winked at him.

Wells handed her the packs and Clarke payed for them with a small discount for employees. She started walking for the door and remembered how she loved this place. She used to spent hours in here. With Wells working here, he let her stay here after the closing hours. It was after Wells persuaded her to continue with music after her fathers death. He sometimes stayed with her and they sang together. However most of the time, Clarke just wanted to be alone.

She walked out just after she managed to shout a quick, "Bye!", at him. Clarke was really surprised how here mood could shift so easily. One moment, she was exited, then comforted and then kind of sad. When she got to work, she forgot all about it though, because she wanted to give her best if she could.

Her shift today went really smoothly and she was nearly done until a guy with slightly longer hair came up and started ordering. "Hi, so what can I get you?" Said Clarke with her 'work' smile. "I'll get one large americano with extra shot of coffee." She started crossing out the squares on the cup, when she added, "And what is your name?" Clarke looked up from the cup, on the man in front of her. "You can write 'Murphy' and also add your number under my name." He winked at her and slid the cash towards her.

Clarke felt disgusted by these kind of people, but a mischievous idea struck her, so she put on her flirtatious smile and scribbled few random numbers on top of the cup and added a heart just next to the number. Clarke passed the cup to Gina, the other barista, that was now in charge of making the coffee. In time Murphy went away and sat himself on a free spot on the other side of the shop, leaving Clarke with a pretty generous tip.

Clarke's time was almost up, so she decided, that the next customer will be her the last one. Just then a girl with long dark hair and surprisingly beautiful face entered the shop.

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**Hey Hey!**

**I hope you are enjoying this as mush as I am! It is really fun for me to write this.**

**I have the story planned out, Oh my God, you don't even know.**

**So, anyways...Don't forget to comment on the story, how was it? what can I improve? what would you like to see?**

**Thanks a lot for reading!**

**Hej då! Bye bye :)**


	3. Band

CHAPTER 3

The girl went over and started ordering her drink, when suddenly, the girl said her name, so Clarke could write it on the cup ,"Octavia" Clarke quickly looked up, surprised.

"Hi so you are Octavia? I am Clarke, the girl you are supposed to meet here today!" Octavia mirrored her smile.

"Oh, hey. It's nice to meet you Clarke! I'll wait for you right there." She pointed to a free spot in a corner with high table. "Don't rush though, I am here sooner than I should be anyway."

"No, it's okay, you were actually my last order. I'll make our coffees and come over there."

Clarke put off her apron, washed her hands and made two coffees. Truth to tell, she was pretty nervous about meeting Octavia. She also preferred solo singing but since she did not have an opportunity to perform even at some small bar alone she said to herself, 'What the hell, what could go wrong?'. Clarke has also never performed with anyone but her dad.

Clarke took the one latte for Octavia and a flat white for her, while her hands were shaking and her heart was beating like crazy. Why was she so nervous? It was all going to be ok, right? Why did she have any doubts about herself anyway? 'I am a good singer, I got this.' She told herself.

She reached Octavia and said across her on a tall stool while she handed her the mug. Octavia smiled and took a sip.

"My God, that is delicious! Thanks." She told Clarke with enthusiasm.

"Well, it's nothing. Thanks for meeting me, I really appreciate it." Clarke smiled and took a sip from her drink. She felt, that her nervousness started to die down slowly.

"So, you say you sing and you can also play guitar, correct?" Octavia asked and her eyebrows were slightly risen up. Just then had Clarke noticed her sharp green-blue eyes. They were so, magical and mesmerising. Clarke wanted to paint them. The colors were perfect. She didn't even realise she wasn't paying any attention to Octavia's question but got out of her trance when Octavia called her name again.

"...rke?" She now stopped concentrating just on her eyes. What the hell just happened to her? Clarke shook it off and answered the girl's unanswered question.

"Yeah, I've been singing ever since I could remember I guess, and I started playing the guitar when I was like, seven?"

"Really? That is really cool!" Octavia smiled widely. "Do you also have any experience in performing? I don't want you to be nervous when you stand on stage, you know?"

"Yeah, lately I've been singing at birthday parties. I am not really proud of that, but I needed some extra money and I get to do the thing that I love the most, even though it is not what I've always imagined. Also few years back I performed with my dad quite a bit, he was a really good singer. He passed away few years ago though." Clarke's expression has darkened, all the joy from earlier gone from her face. But Clarke wasn't there so someone can pity her. She had enough of that.

"What was his name?" Octavia asked gently with a soft smile on her face.

"Jake Griffin" Clarke answered. Octavia's eyes lit up and she took a sharp breath.

"NO WAY!" Octavia practically shouted. Clarke brows furrowed out of confusion. She also turned around to check if anyone heard Octavia's shout. Of course they did. The majority of the people in the coffee shop were looking at them, but just after few seconds they stopped being interested again and minded their own businesses.

"My brother used to sneak me into his concerts. He is part of the reason I sing. When I listened to his singing and watched him on the stage, I wanted to be like that. I imagined how he must have felt while he sang out there, people looking at him showing off his talent. My brother used to tell me before, that I've got a good singing voice. I didn't even notice it until then. Clarke, if you're his daughter you must be good. Come on we are going to our 'studio'." She put her hands in the air and motioned with her fingers for quotation marks as she said the word 'studio'.

Octavia finished her drink, got up and took Clarke by her wrist. She gently dragged her to the exit while Clarke giggled and said to herself: "I have a hunch we are going to be good friends." Octavia heard her mumbling, but she couldn't figure out what she was saying.

They got out of the shop and since Octavia didn't have a car right now, Clarke offered she would drive them to this said 'studio'. The drive wasn't that long, Octavia just made a few calls to some people telling them something like "I got her, get your ass to the garage in five!"

Octavia navigated her to a neighbourhood at the far end of their city. It was a nice area. There were a lot of small houses with adorable front gardens and porches. The one, in front of which Clarke parked, was a little bit bigger than the others. It was a two story, grey-painted house with a front porch.

Clarke loved it. It wasn't like the home where she had grown up. It looked more homey and comforting.

The girls got out of the car and stepped forward towards the garage. Octavia pulled out her keys and opened a side door to the garage. When Clarke stepped in, she stopped in her tracks.

She noticed few musical instruments as well as a big couch in the corner, a fridge and a bright wall coloured with blue, red and black random designs. On top of those designs Clarke also noticed some pictures. She took a step closer, so she could see the photos more properly.

There were various photos of Octavia singing either alone or with three more people. They looked really young. The pictures must be old. There was one picture though that caught Clarke's interest. It was once again picture of Octavia, but this time, she was standing between a tall dark haired woman and a slightly older freckled boy. The photo screamed of happiness.

Octavia came closer and started speaking in a low voice. "That's me, my brother and our mom. It was the day he got his first camera. He was so happy and the first thing he wanted to take photo was our family." She smiled and looked away from the picture. "So, let's just wait for the rest of the guys and then you could do a little audition for us?"

"Yeah, sure. I need to warm up though, do you mind?" Clarke asked with her nervousness and stress from earlier building up again.

"Yeah, I'll go and give you a minute while I go and grab something for drink. Do you want anything?"

"No, thanks I am good for now." With Clarke's reply Octavia smiled and left the room. Clarke could hear some shouting from Octavia from behind the door, but she just concentrated on her warm up.

Clarke just sang few tones and then tried to perform a part of a song. After a while she decided that it was enough and sat on the couch. In that exact moment Octavia walked in with a two boys and a girl. One of the boys was tall and skinny, while the other was clearly asian and bit shorter. The girl had long blonde slightly curled hair.

"Sooo guys, this is Clarke." Octavia pointed her hand in Clarke's direction and Clarke smiled awkwardly. "Clarke, this is Monty he plays the drums, Jasper-the bass guitar, Harper-piano and play the electric guitar."

Clarke was trying to think of the sound these four instruments made together. It was pretty hard. Guess she just had to wait to hear it.

"Hi, nice to meet you all" Clarke gave them a small wave. "What do you want me to sing? Something slow or maybe something faster?" She was getting more and more excited about the whole thing. Sure the nervousness was still present, but she wanted to do this as best as she could.

"We play both, slow and fast, so it's up to you with what you feel more confident or comfortable." Said the blonde girl whose name Clarke recalled was Harper.

"Alright, but could I please borrow that acoustic guitar?" Clarke pointed to the corner of the room to a guitar, that looked like it hasn't been used for a while. But it was truly beautiful. It had engraved tree that went from the bottom to the headstock.

Jasper, Monty and Harper looked hesitantly at Octavia but Octavia just ignored them and went off to take the guitar and handed it to Clarke.

The whole exchange felt a little bit weird and Clarke didn't know why. What was up with this instrument she was now holding? Did it have some sentimental value for the band or just one person? Clarke wondered if it was connected to the sad reaction Octavia had when she looked at the photo of her, her brother and their mother. Anything it was Clarke wasn't really keen on asking them about the situation now. What if it was too personal of a reason to ask about. She just knew them for a hour, tops.

When she tried the sound of the instrument it felt like her ears bled. It was so out of tune. Even all of the band guys made funny faces after hearing the sound. Fortunately, Clarke also had perfect pitch, so she was able to tune the guitar in matter of minute.

Just then, the sound was so charming. It felt like honey. Just imagine honey without the whole sticking on everything. Watching honey slowly flowing down from a cup. The soothing sweet smell. If only the sound of Clarke running her fingers through each string had this effect, she couldn't wait for the sound of a song being played from it

"Nice, so here we go!" The other guys sat themselves on the couch opposite of Clarke and watched her every move.

Clarke thought about what she should sing throughout the whole day. She thought something like an audition would come eventually. She then decided upon 'Can't Help Falling In Love' by Elvis Presley. Her dad used to sing this to her when she went to bed. After the years she taught herself the song and made some adjustments in melody, so it was faster but still sweet. And she thought that the sound of the guitar will simply compliment this particular song.

She tried the chords on the guitar once more and then she started her performance.

_"Wise men say only fools rush in_

_But I can't help falling in love with you_

_Shall I stay, would it be a sin_

_If I can't help falling in love with you?_

_Like a river flows, surely to the sea_

_Darling, so it goes, some things are meant to be_

_Take my hand, take my whole life too_

_For I can't help falling in love with you_

_like a river flows, surely to the sea_

_Darling, so it goes, some things are meant to be_

_take my hand, take my whole life too_

_For I can't help falling in love with you_

_Oh, for I can't help falling in love with you"_

The gang clapped and told Clarke to wait a minute, so they could discuss this. They got into a little circle and started whispering something Clarke quite couldn't make out.

She just realised how much she enjoyed it. It was a while since she sang this song in front of someone. Clarke smiled. It was a genuine satisfied smile.

After a minute or two their heads rose up and Octavia announced: "Welcome, Clarke Griffin to our band! We knew you were in immediately, we just wanted to tease you a bit and also discuss what take out we want for dinner." They all chuckled.

Clarke's eyes went wide with Octavia's statement. She smiled and managed just a small "Thank you"

"Don't thank us, really we should be thanking you, you basically saved us _and_ you sound amazing." Said Jasper gratefully.

"So, what do _you_ want for dinner Clarke?" Asked Octavia while grabbing her phone already looking for a number for take-out.

**Hey guys, thanks for reading again. It's lovely to see someone is interested in something I create. **

**Also thanks for the review. Tried to improve it a little.**

**I would love if you reviewed so I could learn how to make it better. If you have any suggestions what do you want to happen in the story, I could also do something about that **

**Bye for now **

**-J**


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